August 2020 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

List Of IPTV Resources
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 22 Sep '24

22 Sep '24

This user <https://github.com/iptv-org> just popped up in my GitHub feed. One repo <https://github.com/iptv-org/iptv> claims to be a list of links to over 8000 streaming TV channels from nations all over the world, while the other is a list of tools*, providers and other resources. Do be aware it’s a bit of a mixed bag: yes, there are legitimate channels (no encryption so far that I have noticed), but also some dubious-looking links. *Oddly, FFmpeg and youtube-dl aren’t in the list.

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Apple’s Windows 10
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 19 Jul '22

19 Jul '22

Fred Brooks predicted long ago that complex pieces of software would eventually reach the point of irreducible entropy, where any attempt to fix a bug would simply introduce a new one. Microsoft’s Windows 10 seems to be about there, and it’s now clear that Apple’s macOS 10.15 “Catalina” has also joined that elite group <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/27/apple_catalina_update/>: The first spin of Catalina, officially released in October 2019, was a mess. ... The biggest issue was that all kinds of apps simply stopped working. ... Peripherals like mice, keyboards and printers stopped working. Email went missing; iCloud backups failed; users were constantly harassed by login requests; updates didn’t update ... ... So came for the first update to its new system one week after the main launch which fixed some, but not all, of the issues. ... Version two came in December 2019 and fixed some of those issues, but not all. ... More bug fixes came with version three in January 2020, but the OS seemed to have finally stabilized; something that was then spectacularly undone with version .4. ... Then we had the “supplemental update” to version 10.15.4, which fixed some, but not all, of the problems – most significantly the problem with Finder and transferring large files. And, amazingly, appeared to undo the good work that had been done with website security and broke SSH for some users. But now, with version point-five this week, that problem appears to have been sorted and, of course, your battery might last longer too.

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Stopping Alert Volume Going To 100%
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 20 Jan '21

20 Jan '21

For quite a while now, I’ve been annoyed by the system notification volume going to 100% on my Debian systems, regardless of my attempts to set it to a lower level. For example, when I open the KDE System Settings app, change something, then try to close the window, the sound that accompanies the save/discard/cancel alert is always startlingly loud. I think I have finally found a fix: in your /etc/pulse/daemon.conf, put in a line saying flat-volumes = no (You should find an existing comment “; flat-volumes = yes” that indicates the default.) You can make this new setting take effect in the current session immediately without having to logout or reboot, by executing the following as the currently-logged-in user: pulseaudio -k (This kills and restarts the PulseAudio daemon for your user session.) There are several discussions of the pros and cons of this issue online, going back some years. For example, here <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1265267>. Also a mention about the “flat-volumes” setting in the ever-reliable Arch Linux Wiki here <https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio>.

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Random Firefox Tweaks
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Dec '20

12 Dec '20

Been looking at various settings changes you can make in the “about:config” page in Firefox. Here are a couple I have found useful: * keyword.enabled -- set to false to stop Firefox trying to do a search on the contents of the address box if it doesn’t match a URL. This is why I have a search box separate from the address box. * browser.fixup.alternate.enabled -- set to false to stop it helpfully tacking on “www.” and “.com” if the original URL you type doesn’t work. I have occasionally been confused by it complaining about not finding a URL, but showing a different one from the one I typed. By the way, when you first try to view this page, Firefox shows you a warning to ensure you understand the consequences of messing about with settings at this level. It remembers it has shown you this warning by adding the following line to the prefs.js file in your profile: user_pref("browser.aboutConfig.showWarning", false); Firefox seems to overwrite this file when it quits, and reloads it when it is launched again.

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NZ Govt Unveils “Algorithm Charter”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 22 Sep '20

22 Sep '20

The Charter <https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/28/new_zealand_algorithm_charter/> requires Government departments who sign on to it to “maintain transparency” about the algorithms they use, but does not make them reveal the actual details of these algorithms. Nor does it explain what it means by an “algorithm”.

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Linux Developers Continue Evaluating The Path To Adding Rust Code To The Kernel
by Peter Reutemann 31 Aug '20

31 Aug '20

'Phoronix reports: As mentioned back in July, upstream Linux developers have been working to figure out a path for adding Rust code to the Linux kernel. That topic is now being further explored at this week's virtual Linux Plumbers Conference... To be clear though, these Rust Linux kernel plans do not involve rewriting large parts of the kernel in Rust (at least for the foreseeable future...), there would be caveats on the extent to which Rust code could be used and what functionality, and the Rust support would be optional when building the Linux kernel. C would remain the dominant language of the kernel and then it's just a matter of what new functionality gets added around Rust if concerned by memory safety, concurrency, and other areas where Rust is popular with developers. Various upstream developers have been interested in Rust for those language benefits around memory safety and security as well as its syntax being close to C. There would be a to-be-determined subset of Rust to be supported by the Linux kernel.... While the Rust code would be optional, the developers do acknowledge there are limitations on where Rust is supported due to the LLVM compiler back-ends. But at least for x86/x86_64, ARM/ARM64, POWER, and other prominent targets there is support along with the likes of RISC-V. Nothing firm has been determined yet but it's a topic that is still being discussed at the virtual LPC this week and surely over the weeks/months ahead on the kernel mailing list. There is Rust-For-Linux on GitHub with a prototype kernel module implementation. There is also the PDF slides from Thursday's talk on the matter. It's not clear to me that this is a done deal. But the article argues that "it's still looking like it will happen, it's just a matter of when the initial infrastructure will be in place and how slowly the rollout will be..."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/08/29/2250237 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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HBO Max Cranks Up the Widevine DRM, Leaves Linux Users in the Cold
by Peter Reutemann 27 Aug '20

27 Aug '20

'Jim Salter, reporting for ArsTechnica: A reader tipped us off today that HBO Max stopped working a couple of weeks ago for Linux users, under any Web browser. Any attempt to play back a video on the streaming service on a Linux system -- regardless of distribution or browser -- returns an error saying, "We're having trouble playing this video. Please try again later." Unfortunately, trying again later won't help -- the root cause of the problem is that the Widevine DRM attempting to protect HBO Max's content from pirates is refusing to recognize any Linux system as a known platform. We saw the same thing happen in January, when CBS All Access suddenly stopped working on Linux in the same way. When we asked CBS executives if they had enabled the Verified Media Path (VMP) requirement on their Widevine server, they suddenly clammed up -- but later that day, the service miraculously worked for Linux users again. We did verify that HBO Max will not work on Linux browsers and that the problem is -- once again -- Widevine DRM refusing to issue a license. Although HBO Max has not returned requests for comment at press time, it seems very likely that the cause here is the same as it was for CBS All Access back in January. It seems like somebody enabled Verified Media Path on the Widevine server, and since the Linux kernel is not a verified media path, Linux users can't get a license and can't watch the content.' -- source: https://slashdot.org/story/20/08/26/1923213 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Code-execution bug in Pulse Secure VPN threatens patch laggards everywhere
by Peter Reutemann 27 Aug '20

27 Aug '20

'Organizations that have yet to install the latest version of the Pulse Secure VPN have a good reason to stop dithering—a code-execution vulnerability that allows attackers to take control of networks that use the product. Tracked as CVE-2020-8218, the vulnerability requires an attacker to have administrative rights on the machine running the VPN. Researchers from GoSecure, the firm that discovered the flaw, found an easy way to clear that hurdle: trick an administrator into clicking on a malicious link embedded in an email or other type of message.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/08/code-execution-bug-i… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Google: Jetpack Compose Lets Android Developers Write Apps With 'Dramatically Less Code'
by Peter Reutemann 27 Aug '20

27 Aug '20

'Google today released the alpha version of Jetpack Compose, its UI toolkit for helping developers "build beautiful UI across all Android platforms, with native access to the platform APIs." From a report: While an alpha release means it is definitely not production ready, Jetpack Compose promises to let Android developers build apps using "dramatically less code, interactive tools, and intuitive Kotlin APIs." The alpha release also includes new tools including Animations, Constraint Layouts, and performance optimizations. Android Jetpack, which Google launched at its I/O 2018 developer conference, is a set of components for speeding up app development. Think of it as the successor to Support Library, a set of components that makes it easier to leverage new Android features while maintaining backwards compatibility. Jetpack Compose, which Google first showed off at its I/O 2019 developer conference, is an unbundled toolkit meant to simplify UI development by combining a reactive programming model with Kotlin.' -- source: https://developers.slashdot.org/story/20/08/26/1749231 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Requiring Plain-Text Email Is A “Barrier To Entry” For Linux Kernel Development, Says Somebody Or Other
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Aug '20

26 Aug '20

Seems plain-text e-mails are just too hard to work with nowadays <https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/25/linux_kernel_email/>: “It is a fairly specific workflow that is a challenge for some newer developers to engage with. As an example, my partner submitted a patch to OpenBSD a few weeks ago, and he had to set up an entirely new mail client which didn’t mangle his email message to HTML-ise or do other things to it, so he could even make that one patch. That’s a barrier to entry that’s pretty high for somebody who may want to be a first-time contributor.” ... It turned out, though, that this time Outlook was not guilty. “I think it was actually Gmail that was a barrier. And he also couldn’t do it from Apple Mail. It is just that the modern mail client has intentionally moved towards HTML,” ...

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